Home then away for high-flying Taylor

Penny Taylor is making the most of a break from the
sport, reports Stephen Howell.

PENNY TAYLOR is fortunate to play exceptionally well a sport
that is taking her around the world after establishing a reputation
in Australia as a great scorer for Dandenong Rangers.

Aged 24, she has become a key Opal and, in the Olympic Games
gold-medal game in Athens last year, was the player who almost
lifted Australia to victory over the seemingly unbeatable
Americans.

Over five seasons she has become one of the best players in the
American pro league, the WNBA, and has been a headliner in the
well-paid Italian league for three seasons. But, she is unfortunate
she is on the world stage at the same time as champion young
basketballer Lauren Jackson and, therefore, carries the tag of
Australia's second-best player.

Like Jackson, Taylor is taking a break. Unlike Jackson, who is
resting leg stress fractures before returning, hopefully, for the
end of the WNBL season with Canberra Capitals and for the
Commonwealth Games, Taylor's break is voluntary and her comeback
will be overseas.

Sooner, rather than later  her Italian club, Familia
Schio, gave her time off until December 1 to freshen up while
catching up with family in Melbourne and preparing for her wedding
on December 29 in Schio to another international athlete, Brazilian
volleyballer Rodrigo Rodriguez Gil.

Taylor is enjoying getting to know her five-month-old nephew
Luka, son of sister Heather and her husband Denis Sinurima, who
live in Noble Park.

She is training with her old team, Dandenong, and will respond
next Tuesday to Schio's call for help. Her early return is the
result of the club not doing as well as last season when it won the
championship.

Gil, now playing for Padua in the Italian volleyball league,
played for nearby Schio when he and Taylor met in March 2004. She
did not speak Portuguese, he had no English, so Italian was the
language that soon turned to love, with Gil adding English to his
repertoire.

Taylor, who went to Italy to play the 2002-2003 season with La
Spezia, speaks the local language well, and is trying to learn
sufficient Portuguese to communicate with Gil's family when she
meets them just before the wedding.

Taylor's first season with La Spezia bettered the script that
had her doing well enough to attract big-team attention  she
led her club to the finals, earning a rich annual contract that
keeps getting better. "The reason I'm playing overseas is to set
myself up, and the club (Schio) has looked after me really well,"
Taylor said.

Her WNBA career has been impressive, too: all-star selection;
three seasons with Cleveland Rockers; two with Phoenix Mercury, the
latest for an average of 13.2 points (third on the team), 4.4
rebounds (third) and 2.3 assists (second) under Australian coach
Carrie Graf.

Graf, after failing to get the team to the finals, has been
replaced by former NBA coach Paul Westhead, whose run-and-gun style
of game will suit Taylor.

The break is suiting her now. "It's my first time away from
basketball to do something relatively normal," she said yesterday.
"It's a really fun time with my family and it's a chance to
organise the wedding."

Brazil is on her travel agenda, but visiting the in-laws is not
the reason; she will be a key forward alongside Jackson for the
Opals at the world titles in September.

Derby clash to honour Timms

THE Women's National Basketball League will honour Michele Timms by
having the Michele Timms Cup presented for its Bulleen
Boomers-Dandenong Rangers derbies.

Timms, a triple Olympian, WNBL superstar and WNBA pioneer,
finished her local career with Bulleen and made her name as point
guard with the great Nunawading Spectres, multiple championship
winners in the 1980s. The Rangers took over the Spectres' licence
in 1992.

"I think it's going to be a brilliant series," Timms said
yesterday of the three derbies this season. "I am stoked that the
Boomers and Rangers have involved me."

Game one between the WNBL's top teams will be at Bulleen's
Veneto Club at 7.30pm on Saturday.

At the same time, Melbourne Tigers will pay tribute to Lindsay
and Andrew Gaze, the iconic coach and the champion player, for
their contribution to the men's national league team from 1984
until the end of the 2004-2005 season. Among the ceremonies planned
at half-time in the Tigers-Adelaide 36ers match at the Cage in
Parkville on Saturday will be the retirement of Andrew Gaze's No.
10 singlet.